Why make voting this complicated. Just tell people to click the little arrow at the bottom of the post to vote for it. They can only do this once and can easily change a vote if need be or even vote for more than one build if really good ones are put out. Only step in if there are ties. Post the "Winner" at a set time/date and all you need to do is take a glance at the upvotes.
Because that's not what those arrows are for. it's significantly harder to count votes that way, as well as verifying no vote chicanery. Plus? A lot of folks like to show appreciation even for builds they don't Officialy Vote for by just liking the post. If we're stuck with the dumb Updoot feature in the first place, it's best to use it for its intended purpose.
Eh... it's not like the consequences of chicanery are so very high. While we're at it, I note that the submission deadline is long past (the last valid one appears to have been Mr Freeze) and the voting deadline is also past with zero votes being cast, so it's pretty obvious that the current mechanism isn't working (or even really registering).
Apologies, life got me a bit side tracked and I don't normally run these shorter competitions.
On the subject of voting, I chose the current system originally on a board that doesn't have DDB's liking feature but when I made the transition I considered it and ruled it out for the following:
-I wanted this to be a one vote system, this encourages real thought into votes rather than just liking everything that takes your fancy
-Requiring votes publicly encourages discussion, that is something I want to encourage
-I implemented a system of qualifying for the competition by ensuring you vote instead of just submitting a build and forgetting the thread exists. When I originally started this I was seeing a large amount of build submissions and realtively poor voter turn out (particularly from builders). Since making this policy voting turnout has increased and it's of my opinion that commitment/investment to the thread has also increased.
As the person that has to not only tally votes, but also check for build validity (both according to build rules and voting rules), believe me I would like a simple system in place to make things easier and less time consuming for me. I have settled on a system that I believe best serves the contest even though it finds me having to go through these threads four times each voting period. Whilst I appreciate the convenience of clicking a single button, but I don't think the current system really requires much effort or time and the benefits it has outweighs the minor inconvenience.
Otherwise, apologies for the delays on the voting for this thread everyone, please consider build submissions now closed and begin voting. I will give two days for voting with it ending at the same advertised time, but on the 31st of july.
The third option would be to add a poll to the thread... can that be done by editing? I haven't used dndbeyond polls much, so I'm not sure if they only allow one vote out of a menu of choices, or let voters fill in an "other" option, or what.... worth looking at?
I like the vote-by-posting method, because like DorkForge says, it encourages the voters to actually talk about what they liked and didn't like about the options. I agree that it makes the thread a higher-value analysis of builds.
The third option would be to add a poll to the thread... can that be done by editing?
Doesn't look like it. The problem with a vote that includes quoting is that most of them are quite large text blocks; it might be better to require each poster to give their offering a distinctive name (seems fine in this thread) and then vote by name.
I am more than happy to comply with posting to vote. In which case I’d like to cast my vote for Chicken_Camp’s Wampa the Wendingo. I like the idea of the big, white Bugbear skulking around the arctic like Bigfoot and slowly picking apart foes like a horror film villain.
I have no idea how to get multiquote to work on this board so:
Regarding Polls: Even if they could be added I assume that they'd make votes anonymous, which goes against one of the purposes of the voting system and makes it a click that discourages discussion.
Regarding Quotes: The quotes are to help ensure votes are assigned to the correct builds and that it is quick and easy for me to verify. Regarding the blocks of text, the voting section says to snip the build itself out to prevent thread spam.
It's not the best build, but all the builds in this thread are at least somewhat dysfunctional, and of the other builds:
Thulan is probably functional, but the presentation was a bit lacking.
Elsa is just too incomplete (doesn't even have the required hp/ac by level), though a high level sorcerer is perfectly functional.
Mr Freeze just tries too hard to get a freeze gun into what's otherwise a wizard build. The definition of arcane focus is broad enough that you should be able to leverage "Or similar item" to get a wand that looks like a gun. Also, missing required hp/ac by level.
Frosty is the sort of thing I wanted to figure out, but... what does barbarian have to do with anything? Also, lacking required hp/ac by level.
Why make voting this complicated. Just tell people to click the little arrow at the bottom of the post to vote for it. They can only do this once and can easily change a vote if need be or even vote for more than one build if really good ones are put out. Only step in if there are ties. Post the "Winner" at a set time/date and all you need to do is take a glance at the upvotes.
4.Because that's not what those arrows are for. 1.it's significantly harder to count votes that way, as well as 2. verifying no vote chicanery. Plus? 3. A lot of folks like to show appreciation even for builds they don't Officialy Vote for by just liking the post. If we're stuck with the dumb Updoot feature in the first place, it's best to use it for its intended purpose.
1. Nope. The OP has even stated it is much harder and more time consuming to do the votes the way the OP instructed. Look at multiple numbers and put the biggest on top is about as easy as it can get.
2. Since there is no legal, financial, or political benefit or effect from the voting results you can't even have chicanery. It just doesn't apply here. Trickery and deceit, yes. Chicanery, no.
3. This is all opinion stuff. If you want more votes and more interaction from as many people as possible how to vote needs to be simple. Survey Monkey is really successful in large part because it makes voting on anything very very simple. I saw the vote rules and quickly said yeah TLDR.
4. I rarely see them used at all. Might as well use them for something.
The core concept of what I'm building here is pretty simple: cast Shape Water to make an Improvised Weapon out of ice. That could then go in a lot of ways... if your DM is okay with an Improvised Dagger that still qualifies as a Finesse weapon, or an improvised Maul that still qualifies as Heavy, etc.... then the normal builds that focus on Sneak Attack, Great Weapon Master, etc. are all still viable for the small investment of unlocking that one cantrip and having a round or two to shape your weapon. I am going to assume that one can Sneak Attack with an improvised Dagger made of ice for this build, but Sneak Attack isn't the main thrust... I'm instead going to focus on grappling and move speed!? The concept being, Wampa here is like his namesake, popping out of ambush to snatch a victim and then run away with them into the howling arctic cold, letting arctic exposure do the rest of the work once he's separated his victim from their group.
'Momma Momma! Mr. Frosty came to life!' 'What's that? Who's this Mr. Frosty, what are you on about child, and where's your brother?' 'The snowman, Momma! He wasn't there yesterday, but then after the snow fell, then he was there! And he's magic, Momma, he's a real snowman with a hat and nose and buttons, but he can walk and play!' 'That's nonsense, you should have been gathering snowberries, not building snowmen... now I won't ask again, where's Sven?' 'He's with Mr. Frosty, Momma! We both were having so much fun playing chase, but Mr. Frosty caught him up, and then he did a magic trick, and he took him to his winter kingdom, and- 'What!? This isn't funny, where is your brother, where is Sven? Is he hiding from his chores again-' 'No Momma, I told you! He's with the snowman, playing! I waited for them to come back, but I was getting real cold, and bored, and-' 'Oh, gods, no... No! Harald?! Emma, take me! Take me there right now, where you saw this man! Harald! Harald, come quick, someone's taken our boy, oh gods!' 'But he wasn't a man, Momma, that's what I keep telling you! He was a SNOWman, with coal buttons and a carrot nose and a pretty knife made of ice- I'm telling the truth!'
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
There were some good ideas in this round, I liked that folks again embraced the theme from more than one direction! Not only lots of classes, but everyone chose a different inspiration for their character, good stuff.
Yurei gets points for building an effective, straightforward, playable character that incorporated "ice breaker" into its lore in a believable way that wouldn't be out of place at the table. The Tundra Storm Herald fits very well with a rugged mountain-traversing outdoorsman, and I can see Thulen bringing a lot of utility to a party in a game that leaned heavily on skill checks in wilderness encounters. However, the build lacks a "gimmick" mechanic, and I don't think it was really ice related enough to take the top spot this round.
GoodBovine had a great concept for an iconic meme-worthy ice-centered character in Elsa, but I'd like it to be more fleshed out and take more risks in the name of ice (and songs you can't get out of your head) to get my vote, rather than just listing some cold spells a sorcerer could take.
JacksonTC conjured up another instantly recognizable wintery villain with Mr. Freeze, and I couldn't help but read his level headings in Ahhhhhnald's voice. I like that the build's obsession with building a freeze gun in early levels mirrors the character it's based on, after which he branches out into more general villainry. I like the attention paid to re-skinning non-ice spells like Web and Grease as ice- or technology-related. I wish it built a higher AC and chunkier Con, because Mr. Freeze to me is more of a tank than a glass cannon, and I think there's room in there for AC 17 or even 19 with a shield with some slight tweaks... I don't think the 18 Charisma was really necessary, Expertise in Intimidation and Performance is more than enough to get the point across even with a middling Cha. Still, great concept, interesting mix of classes to tell the story, and great presentation. Minus points for lying about dinosaurs though.
Pantagruel had another cute idea for one of Santa's elves-gone-bad, Snow Miser. I like the idea of a frost wizard that emphasizes its criminality, and the Rogue level is a good start towards telling that story... but again, I think that this needed more fleshing out and more risks taken than just a spell list to get my vote.
TransmorpherDDS brought a snowman to life with Frosty the Genasi. I don't see land druids used very often, so points for unique choices! Wildshape with Rage is a fun idea to build around, but these wouldn't normally be the subclasses I'd expect for it. Ulitimately, "tough wild shapes" isn't really something that I think has a lot to do with "ice breaker," nor do I really recall Frosty taking any form other than loveable snowman (did he ever so much as raise his voice in annoyance?)... so not sure if Rage and Wildshape were the best mechanics to focus on for that character concept. Although, I'm pretty sure Frosty could fly, and wildshaping does check that box, so I guess I'll allow it!
After all of that... it comes down to JacksonTC's Mr. Freeze for me. I think it was an effective build (full caster progression with max spellcasting abilities) with a good and easily understandable gimmick (cast cold spells through a "Freeze Gun" for bonus damage) and some flavorful ribbon abilities (supervillain weapons and gadgets, focus on grandstanding monologues), wrapped up in an entertaining and iconic supervillain presentation.
Well, Vedalken couldn't be a better fit for our blue looking Mr. Freeze. Mr. Freeze has a Hermit background, which means that he gets Discovery as his feature; this of course must be his prized Freeze Gun which... comes online at level 5. Until then we can outfit Mr. Freeze with Ice-Themed Spells like Ray of Frost and Catapult, granted there's some Ice or Snow around. Grease, with some creative allowances, can be a patch of ice summoned to trip up your enemies.
We take Artillerist at Level 3 as our Specialist focus and at level 5 we get our Arcane Firearm. This does require a DM to allow for the meme build to play out and for your Discovery to allow for the Freeze Gun to take the place of the "wand, staff, or rod" outlined in the text to be your arcane focus. But it's at this level you can start casting from your Freeze Gun and your Ray of Frost suddenly becomes the Freeze Beam as seen on TV. Eldritch Cannon is neat but doesn't really fit into our build (Force, Fire, and Heals don't really fit the build) but allow for some extra damage to be done.
We can take some infusions here like Enhanced Arcane Focus and Enhanced Armor to improve ourselves a bit and make Mr. Freeze all the more intimidating. We can use Replicate Magic Item to create ourselves the Dread Helm (eyes glowing red, if you want to go for the Comic's Mr. Freeze approach) and Smoldering Armor (for that icy vapor to rise up off your armor). Web and Spider Climb allow you to use Ice in creative ways to get around or impede your enemies from doing so - imagine Mr. Freeze freezing his feet to the wall as he slowly climbs up for a better vantage point.
Given our weaker disposition, Artillerist allows us to always bring along Shield and Mr. Freeze can add Cure Wounds for good measure.
Artificer was fun, but Mr. Freeze needs more ice. And that means going straight into an Evocation Wizard for 6 levels for a wider variety of spells. We'll also grab Potent Cantrip so our Ray of Frost can't be fully resisted any longer. We get access to a plethora of new spells, including Chill Touch and Gust as cantrips. We have access to 3rd level spells like Slow and Leomund's Tiny Hut which both have excellent ice-flavored potential. Wall of Water using Mr. Freeze's Freeze Gun would also be neat, if allowed to exist in it's sold form. Overall Mr. Freeze is still able to Shield up to AC 20 if need be, heal his wounds if need be, as well as be the villain he needs to be. But, at this point, he is a villain, just not a super villain. What is he lacking?
PRESENTATION! Mr. Freeze takes 3 points into Bard to get a degree from the School of Lore, earning him Expertise in Intimidation and Performance as well as three more levels into Wizard. By this point, you know the drill, Mr. Freeze's Freeze Ray gets some new tricks, like Cone of Cold and Creation and is now fit to be the face of your troupe, inspiring those around him with his dastardly misdeeds and villain monologues.
Mr. Freeze caps out at only being able to produce 6th level spells, but at least he gets Otiluke's Freezing Sphere and the true Wall of Ice. His Freeze Gun is now fully powered and ready to deal real damage. With being able to make checks across the board, shoot icy spells from his Freeze Gun, and walk around with replicated wondrous items, our Mr. Freeze meme builds comes to a close. Although probably not as optimal as other meme builds, I hope that Mr. Freeze has pulled your heart from your body and felt it freeze in his icy hands.
Anyone else having massive trouble getting DDB to work properly lately? Damn website always seems to be broken in some way, the ‘Post a Reply’ box only shows up once in a blue moon for me now -_-
ANYWAYS. Let’s do this thing.
Wampa the Wendigo: What a delightful train wreck of a build, dedicated to its theme in a way only the truly deranged can be. Wampa would be an absolutely horrifying villainous character in an Icy North campaign (Rime of the Frostmaiden, anyone?), with his ability to apparate out of the snow, grab hold of one of your party members, and them simply not be there anymore. It turns into a not at all insignificant challenge to try and find your buddy before exposure claims them and the Wendigo gets his feast.
In any other circumstance, Wampa is hosed :P But that’s all right! That’s exactly the kind of nonsense this quickfire contest was meant for. Well done, Chicken.
Elsa, Queen of Ice: I really would’ve liked to see more investment in this idea; rebuilding Elsa as a 5e character is a shoe-in I’m legit a little irritated I didn’t think of. Especially given the draconic sorcerer angle, which could’ve made for a very interesting take on a Floofy Disney Princess. Unfortunately the overall presentation and development of the idea was just not as present as the other builds, and invoking the name can only go so far. Hoping to see you take it to the mat next time in future build contests, GB.
Mr. Freeze: HERE we go. Shitty, shitty memes and all. Gawd that movie was an underappreciated treasure. Regardless! I like the attention to detail and dedication to memery that is reshaping various random other spells into icy forms, things like Slow, Tiny Hut, and Web. Taking Bard levels specifically for Large Ham factor is an inspired touch (‘inspired’. Tee hee). I like to think that his Bardic Inspirations are him encouraging his minions to do their jobs properly...or else. It helps that it’s actually not an absolutely godawful shitbuild, either – the character could actually conceivably hold up to some extent in a non-meme game. Excellent work, Jackson.
Snow Piercer Miser: Hmm. One of Santa’s little helpers goes a little bit Grinch and develops a taste for the Mr. Freeze lifestyle. Not a direction I would’ve predicted, though I will admit as an aside that Santa’s helpers are indeed clearly gnomes, not elves. Astute observation. Would’ve liked to see a bit more exposure (hueh hueh) of the fluff and a bit of yarn-spinning about why this particular gnome decided gnot to play gnice anymore, but overall this one’s the purest expression of ‘Ice Guy Build’ we’ve seen outside of Elsa. Just nineteen levels of cold damage oriented caster. Perfectly serviceable with a Christmas bow on top.
Frosty the Genas(t)i: It amuses me how many Storm Heralds we ended up with. People must’ve still had Terminator on the brain. Hueh. Anyways. This one comes at ‘Ice Guy’ from a druidic standpoint, using the Druid Circle Time Forgot. Frosty is more about the power of imagination than the power of janky mechanics, being a mostly typical Drubarian with spells rather than Moon shapes who simply describes himself and his actions a little differently. But you know what? That totally scans for Frosty the Snowman. Power of imagination is what Frosty is about. If a snowbro wants to be a shapeshifting snowman instead of a weird furry? That snowbro is A-OK to do just that.
*****
In the end though, I have to give it to Mr. Freeze. A carefully blended smoothie of awful Ahnold ice puns, meme-ass spell and class selections, and just enough functionality to back up its aspirations of supervillainy. Wampa was a very close second simply for the horror-movie vibe and hilarious overspecialization, but let’s face it – the Doctor of Freezology is too much ham for even the White Wendigo of the North to choke down.
I had a bout of inspiration for a build here and would like to reintroduce you to an old villain:
Mr. Freeze
Vedalken Artificer / Wizard
Maybe the puns put it over the edge for me, but I've gotta give my vote to Mr. Freeze.
As for my own build... I know it's kind of a goofy combination and doesn't actually pair that well, but Tundra Storm Herald and Arctic Circle of Land are, I think... the only subclasses that specialize specifically in cold? Actually I think Draconic Sorcerer gets a bit, but it's not by much. So I kind of reverse-engineered a character from that. I was originally trying to come up with a Santa character, but when looking at races I saw water genasi, connected it with Frosty, and thought it would be funny to include shape shifting. lol maybe I should have leaned more into Bad Mr. Frosty from Clayfighters, since he has some shapeshifting in a few of his moves.
Thanks for the kind words regarding Mr. Freeze everyone :) I like the idea of going through each build and giving it some thoughts, and will attempt to append my previous lackluster vote (which, to my defense, was made via Mobile) with a broader look at all builds. In the meantime, @Chicken_Champ, this one is for you: link
To be fair, I was guilty of same in previous contests. i saw other folks going down the list in this one and thought "Y'know? That's fair. Even if you don't win, you get something out of entering the contest because people feedback on the build." So decided that was going to be the new standard going forward. Lot more work, but let's face it - we'd all rather be reviewing janky D&D builds than whatever it is we're actually being paid to do, amiryte?
While the votes may be closed I did resolve to make a comment about all the builds that were submitted so, here we go!
Wampa the Wendigo (which got my vote) by Chicken_Champ There's something about a beastial bodysnatcher that's chilling. Although I prefer my Yetis to be gentile giants a la Monsters Inc., Wampa is a gritty take on the mythical beings that really bothers me (in a good way!). He strikes me as a great ambusher, as early as level 1, and I loved the flavor of a huge Bugbear going the stealth and deception route rather than the barbarous rampaging route. But I suppose there's plenty of barbarous rampaging going on with the Storm Herald dip. Overall the multiclass gets very meme-y towards the end, but still ends up being a pretty resolute paradigm of what the build set out to be - an arctic, illusory, bodysnatcher resembling the fabled frost giants and yetis. Partially inspired my dive into Barbarogues, which you might have noticed.
Thulan “Ice Breaker” Cloudhunter by Yurei1453 Thulan gave me visions of Kratos from God of War, this semi divine being with incredible martial power that gave him the ability to strike down foes much larger than him. I truly enjoyed the background of him and of the Cloudhunter tribe, and how a few sentences were able to shed so much light on this story. The kicker for me, however, was that I wasn't sure how to score this as a meme-based build. If this were moreso a contest of setting and storytelling, I would be altogether forced to put my vote up for Thulan, but I just don't know if it captured how I interpreted the competition.
Elsa, Queen of Ice by GoodBovine Ah yes, Elsa. I've never seen the movie all the way through but I feel like I know the story better than the back of my hand. I didn't read this character before I submitted my own build but, wow, we had a lot of the same ideas. Utilizing spells like Hold Person with a verbal component of "Freeze" is a clever one I'm jealous I missed. I feel like the build tapers off after the Level 11 mark (as it did for me, admittedly, as I began to run out of steam) to the point where we hardly get any words in regarding the end of Elsa's 20-level transformation. While the idea is fantastic, I think if the execution were to be more of telling the story of Elsa travelling through the 5e world then it would be a stronger candidate for my vote. But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Snow Miser by Pantagruel666 Snow Miser appears to me to be very fleshed out mechanically as a pure ice wizard with a baby-toe dipped into Rogue. Unfortunately the story and background of the character doesn't get the same treatment, and I'm left wondering what Snow Miser's hopes and dreams (or perhaps plots and schemes?) were. I would have loved to seen more fleshed out about the Santa's-Helper-Gone-Rogue!
Frosty the Genas(t)i by TransmorpherDDS Frosty the Genasti? Frosty the straight tank! I've never played with a Druid/Barbarian but from what I understand they're one of the more reliable multi-classes when it comes to front line tanking. The druid spells revolving around ice do well here, but clash with the restrictions of rage. With that being said - the flavor is definitely there - Frosty certainly doesn't seem like the one to fly into a rage, and so we're left with a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde transformation of Ice Druid/Raging Yak. I do like how Frosty was built and intended moreso for utility and support rather than tanking and damage, however, as this does seem like the route our frosty friend would take if he were to be dumped in 5e. Overall a very compelling character with just the right amount of juicy meme-yness the competition was looking for.
As mentioned previously, I did cast my vote for Wampa. I thought the build incredibly creative, avoiding the easy pitfall of snow-based casting, with just the right amount of weird and wild that I felt the contest demanded. With that being said it was a close competition with a ton of incredible submissions, and I really enjoyed all of them. Can't wait to see the next one! :)
Yeah, I knew my flavor was a bit lacking. I was inspired by Snow Miser, but he doesn't really have any specific notable abilities other than "Whatever I touch... turns to snow in my clutch".
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Eh... it's not like the consequences of chicanery are so very high. While we're at it, I note that the submission deadline is long past (the last valid one appears to have been Mr Freeze) and the voting deadline is also past with zero votes being cast, so it's pretty obvious that the current mechanism isn't working (or even really registering).
Apologies, life got me a bit side tracked and I don't normally run these shorter competitions.
On the subject of voting, I chose the current system originally on a board that doesn't have DDB's liking feature but when I made the transition I considered it and ruled it out for the following:
-I wanted this to be a one vote system, this encourages real thought into votes rather than just liking everything that takes your fancy
-Requiring votes publicly encourages discussion, that is something I want to encourage
-I implemented a system of qualifying for the competition by ensuring you vote instead of just submitting a build and forgetting the thread exists. When I originally started this I was seeing a large amount of build submissions and realtively poor voter turn out (particularly from builders). Since making this policy voting turnout has increased and it's of my opinion that commitment/investment to the thread has also increased.
As the person that has to not only tally votes, but also check for build validity (both according to build rules and voting rules), believe me I would like a simple system in place to make things easier and less time consuming for me. I have settled on a system that I believe best serves the contest even though it finds me having to go through these threads four times each voting period. Whilst I appreciate the convenience of clicking a single button, but I don't think the current system really requires much effort or time and the benefits it has outweighs the minor inconvenience.
Otherwise, apologies for the delays on the voting for this thread everyone, please consider build submissions now closed and begin voting. I will give two days for voting with it ending at the same advertised time, but on the 31st of july.
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The third option would be to add a poll to the thread... can that be done by editing? I haven't used dndbeyond polls much, so I'm not sure if they only allow one vote out of a menu of choices, or let voters fill in an "other" option, or what.... worth looking at?
I like the vote-by-posting method, because like DorkForge says, it encourages the voters to actually talk about what they liked and didn't like about the options. I agree that it makes the thread a higher-value analysis of builds.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Doesn't look like it. The problem with a vote that includes quoting is that most of them are quite large text blocks; it might be better to require each poster to give their offering a distinctive name (seems fine in this thread) and then vote by name.
I am more than happy to comply with posting to vote. In which case I’d like to cast my vote for Chicken_Camp’s Wampa the Wendingo. I like the idea of the big, white Bugbear skulking around the arctic like Bigfoot and slowly picking apart foes like a horror film villain.
I have no idea how to get multiquote to work on this board so:
Regarding Polls: Even if they could be added I assume that they'd make votes anonymous, which goes against one of the purposes of the voting system and makes it a click that discourages discussion.
Regarding Quotes: The quotes are to help ensure votes are assigned to the correct builds and that it is quick and easy for me to verify. Regarding the blocks of text, the voting section says to snip the build itself out to prevent thread spam.
Subscribe to our channel for character builds, roleplay and DM tips: www.youtube.com/c/dorkforge
Interested in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything? Check out our playlist on Youtube
Please feel free to message us with any requests or build challenges!
Gonna also vote for
It's not the best build, but all the builds in this thread are at least somewhat dysfunctional, and of the other builds:
1. Nope. The OP has even stated it is much harder and more time consuming to do the votes the way the OP instructed. Look at multiple numbers and put the biggest on top is about as easy as it can get.
2. Since there is no legal, financial, or political benefit or effect from the voting results you can't even have chicanery. It just doesn't apply here. Trickery and deceit, yes. Chicanery, no.
3. This is all opinion stuff. If you want more votes and more interaction from as many people as possible how to vote needs to be simple. Survey Monkey is really successful in large part because it makes voting on anything very very simple. I saw the vote rules and quickly said yeah TLDR.
4. I rarely see them used at all. Might as well use them for something.
also throwing my vote to wampa
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
There were some good ideas in this round, I liked that folks again embraced the theme from more than one direction! Not only lots of classes, but everyone chose a different inspiration for their character, good stuff.
Yurei gets points for building an effective, straightforward, playable character that incorporated "ice breaker" into its lore in a believable way that wouldn't be out of place at the table. The Tundra Storm Herald fits very well with a rugged mountain-traversing outdoorsman, and I can see Thulen bringing a lot of utility to a party in a game that leaned heavily on skill checks in wilderness encounters. However, the build lacks a "gimmick" mechanic, and I don't think it was really ice related enough to take the top spot this round.
GoodBovine had a great concept for an iconic meme-worthy ice-centered character in Elsa, but I'd like it to be more fleshed out and take more risks in the name of ice (and songs you can't get out of your head) to get my vote, rather than just listing some cold spells a sorcerer could take.
JacksonTC conjured up another instantly recognizable wintery villain with Mr. Freeze, and I couldn't help but read his level headings in Ahhhhhnald's voice. I like that the build's obsession with building a freeze gun in early levels mirrors the character it's based on, after which he branches out into more general villainry. I like the attention paid to re-skinning non-ice spells like Web and Grease as ice- or technology-related. I wish it built a higher AC and chunkier Con, because Mr. Freeze to me is more of a tank than a glass cannon, and I think there's room in there for AC 17 or even 19 with a shield with some slight tweaks... I don't think the 18 Charisma was really necessary, Expertise in Intimidation and Performance is more than enough to get the point across even with a middling Cha. Still, great concept, interesting mix of classes to tell the story, and great presentation. Minus points for lying about dinosaurs though.
Pantagruel had another cute idea for one of Santa's elves-gone-bad, Snow Miser. I like the idea of a frost wizard that emphasizes its criminality, and the Rogue level is a good start towards telling that story... but again, I think that this needed more fleshing out and more risks taken than just a spell list to get my vote.
TransmorpherDDS brought a snowman to life with Frosty the Genasi. I don't see land druids used very often, so points for unique choices! Wildshape with Rage is a fun idea to build around, but these wouldn't normally be the subclasses I'd expect for it. Ulitimately, "tough wild shapes" isn't really something that I think has a lot to do with "ice breaker," nor do I really recall Frosty taking any form other than loveable snowman (did he ever so much as raise his voice in annoyance?)... so not sure if Rage and Wildshape were the best mechanics to focus on for that character concept. Although, I'm pretty sure Frosty could fly, and wildshaping does check that box, so I guess I'll allow it!
After all of that... it comes down to JacksonTC's Mr. Freeze for me. I think it was an effective build (full caster progression with max spellcasting abilities) with a good and easily understandable gimmick (cast cold spells through a "Freeze Gun" for bonus damage) and some flavorful ribbon abilities (supervillain weapons and gadgets, focus on grandstanding monologues), wrapped up in an entertaining and iconic supervillain presentation.
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ANYWAYS. Let’s do this thing.
Wampa the Wendigo: What a delightful train wreck of a build, dedicated to its theme in a way only the truly deranged can be. Wampa would be an absolutely horrifying villainous character in an Icy North campaign (Rime of the Frostmaiden, anyone?), with his ability to apparate out of the snow, grab hold of one of your party members, and them simply not be there anymore. It turns into a not at all insignificant challenge to try and find your buddy before exposure claims them and the Wendigo gets his feast.
In any other circumstance, Wampa is hosed :P But that’s all right! That’s exactly the kind of nonsense this quickfire contest was meant for. Well done, Chicken.
Elsa, Queen of Ice: I really would’ve liked to see more investment in this idea; rebuilding Elsa as a 5e character is a shoe-in I’m legit a little irritated I didn’t think of. Especially given the draconic sorcerer angle, which could’ve made for a very interesting take on a Floofy Disney Princess. Unfortunately the overall presentation and development of the idea was just not as present as the other builds, and invoking the name can only go so far. Hoping to see you take it to the mat next time in future build contests, GB.
Mr. Freeze: HERE we go. Shitty, shitty memes and all. Gawd that movie was an underappreciated treasure. Regardless! I like the attention to detail and dedication to memery that is reshaping various random other spells into icy forms, things like Slow, Tiny Hut, and Web. Taking Bard levels specifically for Large Ham factor is an inspired touch (‘inspired’. Tee hee). I like to think that his Bardic Inspirations are him encouraging his minions to do their jobs properly...or else. It helps that it’s actually not an absolutely godawful shitbuild, either – the character could actually conceivably hold up to some extent in a non-meme game. Excellent work, Jackson.
Snow
PiercerMiser: Hmm. One of Santa’s little helpers goes a little bit Grinch and develops a taste for the Mr. Freeze lifestyle. Not a direction I would’ve predicted, though I will admit as an aside that Santa’s helpers are indeed clearly gnomes, not elves. Astute observation. Would’ve liked to see a bit more exposure (hueh hueh) of the fluff and a bit of yarn-spinning about why this particular gnome decided gnot to play gnice anymore, but overall this one’s the purest expression of ‘Ice Guy Build’ we’ve seen outside of Elsa. Just nineteen levels of cold damage oriented caster. Perfectly serviceable with a Christmas bow on top.Frosty the Genas(t)i: It amuses me how many Storm Heralds we ended up with. People must’ve still had Terminator on the brain. Hueh. Anyways. This one comes at ‘Ice Guy’ from a druidic standpoint, using the Druid Circle Time Forgot. Frosty is more about the power of imagination than the power of janky mechanics, being a mostly typical Drubarian with spells rather than Moon shapes who simply describes himself and his actions a little differently. But you know what? That totally scans for Frosty the Snowman. Power of imagination is what Frosty is about. If a snowbro wants to be a shapeshifting snowman instead of a weird furry? That snowbro is A-OK to do just that.
*****
In the end though, I have to give it to Mr. Freeze. A carefully blended smoothie of awful Ahnold ice puns, meme-ass spell and class selections, and just enough functionality to back up its aspirations of supervillainy. Wampa was a very close second simply for the horror-movie vibe and hilarious overspecialization, but let’s face it – the Doctor of Freezology is too much ham for even the White Wendigo of the North to choke down.
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Maybe the puns put it over the edge for me, but I've gotta give my vote to Mr. Freeze.
As for my own build... I know it's kind of a goofy combination and doesn't actually pair that well, but Tundra Storm Herald and Arctic Circle of Land are, I think... the only subclasses that specialize specifically in cold? Actually I think Draconic Sorcerer gets a bit, but it's not by much. So I kind of reverse-engineered a character from that. I was originally trying to come up with a Santa character, but when looking at races I saw water genasi, connected it with Frosty, and thought it would be funny to include shape shifting. lol maybe I should have leaned more into Bad Mr. Frosty from Clayfighters, since he has some shapeshifting in a few of his moves.
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Thanks for the kind words regarding Mr. Freeze everyone :) I like the idea of going through each build and giving it some thoughts, and will attempt to append my previous lackluster vote (which, to my defense, was made via Mobile) with a broader look at all builds. In the meantime, @Chicken_Champ, this one is for you: link
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Okay everone, votes are closed!
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While the votes may be closed I did resolve to make a comment about all the builds that were submitted so, here we go!
Wampa the Wendigo (which got my vote) by Chicken_Champ
There's something about a beastial bodysnatcher that's chilling. Although I prefer my Yetis to be gentile giants a la Monsters Inc., Wampa is a gritty take on the mythical beings that really bothers me (in a good way!). He strikes me as a great ambusher, as early as level 1, and I loved the flavor of a huge Bugbear going the stealth and deception route rather than the barbarous rampaging route. But I suppose there's plenty of barbarous rampaging going on with the Storm Herald dip. Overall the multiclass gets very meme-y towards the end, but still ends up being a pretty resolute paradigm of what the build set out to be - an arctic, illusory, bodysnatcher resembling the fabled frost giants and yetis. Partially inspired my dive into Barbarogues, which you might have noticed.
Thulan “Ice Breaker” Cloudhunter by Yurei1453
Thulan gave me visions of Kratos from God of War, this semi divine being with incredible martial power that gave him the ability to strike down foes much larger than him. I truly enjoyed the background of him and of the Cloudhunter tribe, and how a few sentences were able to shed so much light on this story. The kicker for me, however, was that I wasn't sure how to score this as a meme-based build. If this were moreso a contest of setting and storytelling, I would be altogether forced to put my vote up for Thulan, but I just don't know if it captured how I interpreted the competition.
Elsa, Queen of Ice by GoodBovine
Ah yes, Elsa. I've never seen the movie all the way through but I feel like I know the story better than the back of my hand. I didn't read this character before I submitted my own build but, wow, we had a lot of the same ideas. Utilizing spells like Hold Person with a verbal component of "Freeze" is a clever one I'm jealous I missed. I feel like the build tapers off after the Level 11 mark (as it did for me, admittedly, as I began to run out of steam) to the point where we hardly get any words in regarding the end of Elsa's 20-level transformation. While the idea is fantastic, I think if the execution were to be more of telling the story of Elsa travelling through the 5e world then it would be a stronger candidate for my vote. But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Snow Miser by Pantagruel666
Snow Miser appears to me to be very fleshed out mechanically as a pure ice wizard with a baby-toe dipped into Rogue. Unfortunately the story and background of the character doesn't get the same treatment, and I'm left wondering what Snow Miser's hopes and dreams (or perhaps plots and schemes?) were. I would have loved to seen more fleshed out about the Santa's-Helper-Gone-Rogue!
Frosty the Genas(t)i by TransmorpherDDS
Frosty the Genasti? Frosty the straight tank! I've never played with a Druid/Barbarian but from what I understand they're one of the more reliable multi-classes when it comes to front line tanking. The druid spells revolving around ice do well here, but clash with the restrictions of rage. With that being said - the flavor is definitely there - Frosty certainly doesn't seem like the one to fly into a rage, and so we're left with a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde transformation of Ice Druid/Raging Yak. I do like how Frosty was built and intended moreso for utility and support rather than tanking and damage, however, as this does seem like the route our frosty friend would take if he were to be dumped in 5e. Overall a very compelling character with just the right amount of juicy meme-yness the competition was looking for.
As mentioned previously, I did cast my vote for Wampa. I thought the build incredibly creative, avoiding the easy pitfall of snow-based casting, with just the right amount of weird and wild that I felt the contest demanded. With that being said it was a close competition with a ton of incredible submissions, and I really enjoyed all of them. Can't wait to see the next one! :)
reading through the submissions, I do realize that my build was severely lacking. I will have more detail next time. 😅
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Yeah, I knew my flavor was a bit lacking. I was inspired by Snow Miser, but he doesn't really have any specific notable abilities other than "Whatever I touch... turns to snow in my clutch".